Potato Wedges

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun. Did you know if you order a souvlaki or gyro in Greece, they put thick cut chips in it along with the meat and salad? You did? Oh. (Mutters, 'Show-off!')

In March of 2016, I was living in Istanbul, Turkey, I took a solo birthday trip to Greece, where I visited Athens and Santorini. I spent a day in Athens and took an early flight to Santorini the following morning. I landed in Santorini and rented what felt like the loudest and screechiest moped/scooterette money could rent and set off (with a complimentary hand-drawn map that had been scanned and printed) to find my hotel. As I set off down the road, I turned many heads, and for a minute I thought it might be my devastating good looks, but soon came to realize it was the wailing from my moped, combined, in all likelihood, with the bright silver helmet and sunglasses that I was sporting at 7 in the morning. After a little searching, I found my hotel, a lovely little whitewashed place with a pool as blue as sapphires. I was soon checked in, and after dropping my trusty backpack off on the alarmingly red duvet, I headed out again to explore the little island. As I scree'd and whee'd (and the occasional khree'd) my way to the spots marked on my map, I took in the sights and sang lustily. I sang every song from '90s pop to Bollywood and even some utter gibberish I made up to the tunes of songs I did not know the lyrics to. Between the singing, I entertained myself by trying to read the Greek signs with a Scottish accent, and stopping to take the occasional picture. I checked out the black sand beach at Perissa, coasted past tiny whitewashed churches, and ran into a fellow solo traveller (on a much better sounding ATV) at the red beach. We struck up a conversation and decided to tour the rest of the day together. We then ended up going to the archaeological museum in Thera, the Akrotiri lighthouse in Faros (where I put the mileage of old screechy to the test by not filling up), and then as 2 guys, strangers to each other, watched the most romantic sunset on the planet at Oia as we sipped beers before heading back to Fira. At Fira, my new travel partner decided to call it a night leaving me alone to wander the town. I found a nice bar where I had a few beers, then meandered down the street to restaurant where I introduced 2 plump pork gyros to my stomach, waited to sober up (this bit is very important!), then rode screechy back to the hotel to crash on my even-more-alarmingly-red-in-artificial-light sheets.

I woke early again the next day to catch my flight back to Athens where I continued my solo adventures and immensely fruitful voyage of self-discovery (snort of suppressed laughter). 

What does this recipe have do with my trip? Mainly potatoes. Not unlike the ones they use to make the chips they put in their gyros. (I know it's a stretch.)

For my  Potato Wedges, you will need the following:

Potatoes	5-6 big
Olive oil	big drizzle
Italian seasoning	3-4 tsp
Chilli flakes	2 tsp
Cornflour	1 tbsp
Salt	to taste
Pepper	to taste
Parsley	for the garnish

Prep:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Scrub and cut the potatoes into big wedges. (Keep the skin on!)

Method:

1. Grab an oven tray.
2. Plonk the potatoes on.
3. Drizzle on some olive oil.
4. Sprinkle on the cornflour.
5. Sprinkle on the Italian seasoning.
6. Toss on the chilli flakes.
7. Shake on the salt and pepper.
8. Mix well so the wedges are evenly coated.
9. Lay the wedges out so they're not on top of each other.
10. Pop the tray into the oven.
11. Wait 25 minutes.
12. Turn the oven off.
13. Grab your oven mitts.
14. Get the tray out.
15. Serve with a sprinkling of chopped parsley.
16. Stuff face.
17. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: Talk to fellow travellers more often. You can never have enough friends.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!